On May 25, 2025, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple, calling Ivory Coast an “oasis of gathering” because of its rapid growth through missionary work and its members’ deep commitment to temple and family history service.
“Ivory Coast is an oasis where people gather,” he says. “Of all the people I’ve interacted with around the world, they understand that they come together here.”
More than a year later, Latter-day Saints and missionaries in the area are living that vision.
In his final months as president of the Ivory Coast Abidjan East Mission before his release on July 1, Pascal J. Budge reported increased temple attendance among members from neighboring countries closer to the House of the Lord.
He also reported that through technology and the efforts of members, large numbers of people have been taught and baptized over several months at the growing branch in Bamako, Mali’s capital in northern Ivory Coast.
Mr. Budge wrote that nothing contributes to the strengthening of faith more than witnessing so many people living faith-filled lives in poverty.
“In many cases, they have little or no temporary value, but when you see and feel the light that the gospel of Jesus Christ produces in their lives, you will never know that something is missing,” he wrote in an email to Church News. “This is certainly one of the ways the Savior’s light is shared with the rest of the world. The profound nature of how that light transforms them, and by extension those in their circle of influence, cannot be overstated.”
Bamako branch
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles traveled to Mali in May 2017, and the Bamako branch was established in July of the same year. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints received official recognition in Mali in January 2019. The Church sent the country’s first missionary sister to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and she began her ministry in June 2023.
As of July 1, the Bamako branch was reorganized into the newly established Senegal-Dakar Mission.
trip to temple
About 30 Latter-day Saints from Bamako traveled to Abidjan in February 2026, many attending the temple for the first time and others being sealed, Budge said.
While in the temple, the spouse of a member was baptized in the adjacent Cocody Ivory Coast Stake meetinghouse. This moment was a spiritual highlight for the entire group.
first wave
Mr Budge wrote that for some time members of the Bamako branch had been inviting the people of three nearby communities, Falako Manutugura, Diatura and Ngomi, to hear the gospel message. Many people expressed interest, Budge wrote, but they were unable to send missionaries.
In February, Budge instructed the Abidjan East Mission to contact Bamako branch president Ibrahima Togola and begin using online video chat to teach those interested in the gospel.
Mr. Budge oversaw the first educational session remotely from the mission in Abidjan. Seri Kone, a second counselor in the mission presidency, traveled to Bamako with the mission clerk to set up technology to allow interested friends to participate from the same chicken farm that Elder Bednar visited in May 2017.
The first group was so large, over 40 people, that the missionaries divided it into two groups and taught each group twice a week.
Teachings continued for several weeks until the group accepted an invitation for baptism, and a service was scheduled for April 18th. Prior to that day, President Togola arranged civil weddings so that several couples in the group could legally marry before baptism.
While the missionaries conducted 78 baptismal interviews, the branch’s seamstress took each candidate’s measurements and the Relief Society sisters helped sew all the white clothing.
The villages of Flako and Diatura are about 16 miles east of Bamako, and Ngomi is more than a two-hour drive north. Mission and branch members also arranged transportation needs, such as food and water, for those involved.
Before the service, Kone trained local priesthood leaders to administer baptisms and confirmations. For many of them, this will be their first time officiating at either ceremony.
On April 18th, 74 people entered the waters of baptism. Four more followed on April 19th. The checks were conducted in two different rooms. Thanks to careful planning and member support, the entire ceremony was completed within four hours.
On April 19, 45 of the male candidates were interviewed and received the Aaronic Priesthood. Mr Budge said this was a “historic and important event” for the branch.
All communications were made by members. The young missionaries had been in Mali for less than three years. Each ordinance was performed by a worthy local priesthood holder. All training and interviews by young missionaries were conducted using technology.
“This was all done by local members with the assistance of the Ivory Coast mission presidency counselors,” Budge wrote.
second wave
The Bamako branch held a second wave of 36 baptisms in May. Some men who were ordained to the priesthood of the Aaronic Priesthood in the first wave of converts in April participated in the performance of the ordinance of baptism. Among the converts were two drivers who were hired to help transport people during lessons.
“They were so influenced by the lessons they received that they decided to get baptized themselves,” Budge wrote.
Witness of the Lord’s haste
Reflecting on the first two waves of baptisms in Bamako, Kone said it was a “miracle” to see how the restored gospel was impacting people’s lives in the Muslim-majority country. It reminds him of Elder Rasband’s talk at the April 2025 conference. In it he talked about being a witness to the Lord hastening His work.
“I see it with my own eyes,” he wrote in Church News.
Reflecting on the teachings of Preach My Gospel and all the steps in the process, he said, “I have never seen the work of winning people to Christ move like it did when all parts were working together: field leaders, online missionaries, and members carrying the work among us.”
Kone said the new converts are now learning about the temple.
“They have never been there, but they often talk about it,” he wrote. “They are eager to participate and experience for themselves what Elder Rasband calls an oasis of gathering. The Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple is more than a thousand miles away from them, but it is already shaping their hearts. That, above all, is how I know the Lord is hastening His work in Mali.”
The coming third wave
Preparations are underway for a third wave of more than 50 people to be baptized in the summer. Members learn about ministering, educational opportunities, self-reliance, and temple and family history service. A new branch may be organized soon.
For Budge, it was a “deeply inspiring” experience.
“A constant reminder of how important it is to remember to focus on what matters most,” he writes. “What I see from them is that when life’s circumstances limit what they can do, they do only what is most important. But that’s not all. Like Nephi, their choices reflect a ‘glimmer of hope’ (2 Nephi 31:20) in a world where there seems to be little reason for optimism.”
“They know who they can trust, and when that truth is brought to them, they accept it without reservation. The energy with which they embrace the gospel seems to say, ‘Lord, I will praise you forever and ever. Yes, my My soul rejoices in you, God, and the rock of my salvation” (2 Nephi 4:30), which is a great inspiration and encouragement to me in the way they choose to live.”
